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2023 Duluth Fire Officer & Training Officer School
March 15-17, 2024 | DECC | 350 Harbor Drive, Duluth, MN 55802

Attendees can register for one (1) 12-hour class, which is held on Saturday and Sunday. Please click here to view class descriptions.

10 Minutes and Beyond
David Brosnahan, Fire Chief, Roseville

The overall goal of the course “10 Minutes and Beyond” is to build on the training obtained in the previous MSFCA Fire Officers School class: “The First 5 Minutes”. The purpose of this training will emphasize the behaviors necessary to ensure safe incident ground operations through lecture, demonstrations, individual, and group activities.

The course will attempt to provide the first arriving firefighters/fire officers an opportunity to further develop the skills necessary to make the right decisions and operate effectively as an initial Incident Commander and to provide the skills to start the fire attack plan (IAP-incident action plan) not only for your own unit but for the other responding units as well.

The course is anticipated to provide the following:

  • To define and explain fire-ground expectations for the first arriving FF/FO.
  • To explain the responsibilities of identifying the what, where, when, who and how of incident management (functions of command).
  • To provide a good knowledge base for all personnel who find themselves in charge (however briefly).
  • To influence changes in strategy and tactics due to changes in the current fire environment

The course will be scenario driven and will attempt to focus on fire-ground operations, crash incidents, search incidents, and natural disasters.
Class participants must have already attended the class “The First 5 Minutes”.

Critical Thinking for Fire Ground Operations
Lance Ross, MN-1 AHIMT & Trevor Hamdorf, Deputy Director - Public Safety, New Brighton 

Each and everyday Emergency Services respond to numerous calls that require different approaches to best control the situation. Often, the decisions of controlling that situation happen within seconds. Some of these situations end up going longer than the “normal” call.

This critical thinking session is designed to provide you a background and enhance your decision making on a scene both initially and long term incidents. Learn from case studies and lessons learned on the ICS City a 5 ft. x 32 ft. training city that you will be utilizing during the session. The session scenarios will start at a baseline level and grow in intensity and complexity. The ICS City allows for students to utilize the concepts learned during class and their “real world” experience and apply to the exercise that is unfolding in front of them “in the city”.

The session will have training components and many “hands on” opportunities with the ICS City.

EMS Attack Crew: Managing the Medical Call as a First-In Fire Crew
Scott Spinks, Chief of Training and EMS

As the responsibilities of the modern day fire department increase, one of the most prominent roles for fire crews to serve is the role of the EMS First Responder. In 2021, fire departments across the US reported that 60-80% of the total calls they responded to were medical in nature. As this growth trend continues, it becomes more important than ever that our crews be prepared to manage a medical scene efficiently, confidently and effectively.

The 12 hour EMS Attack Crew course takes an in depth looks at a wide variety of 911 medical calls and provides a collection of strategies and tactics to help fire departments enter these calls with confidence and a clear idea of the things that can be done to ensure the patient gets their best chance at a positive outcome.

Topics include Time Control, Information Collection, Orchestrating the Scene from an Officer’s Perspective, the Vital Task of Collecting Vitals and the Art of the Smooth Hand-off. The course moves at a steady pace, using presentations, videos and scenarios to accommodate all kinds of learning styles.

A program developed by Scott Spinks, EMS Attack Crew is designed based on Scott’s experiences as a fire captain and as a critical care paramedic in the busiest county in Minnesota.


Fire Ground Management - First Arriving Officer
Curt Mackey, Fire Chief, Excelsior

Participants will learn the importance of conducting a thorough size up before committing limited resources. This course will develop company officers’ incident scene supervisory and management capabilities in structural fire operations. Key content includes discussion and scenario based practice on controlling and implementing the activities that need to be done to successfully deal with personnel performing the following operations; rescue and ventilation, confinement and extinguishment, water supply, exposures, offensive and defensive operations, salvage, overhaul and support. This course takes a practical, common sense approach to fighting fires in single-family homes, multi-family apartment buildings, light industrial and commercial structures. It takes into account the realities of today's fire service – that is, most fire departments in this country are, understaffed, less experienced and involved in more EMS than ever before. If your incidents seem to run themselves and you’re not in control then this course is for you.

Good to Great Leadership
BJ Jungmann, Fire Chief, Burnsville

Why are some teams good and some great? What sets great teams apart? Leading their team is one of the most important things a manager needs to get right. But great teams don’t happen by accident. In this class you will learn the best practices of leading teams from good to great. Define what makes a team function well, discover how to avoid the behaviors that detract from a team’s success, and identify the actions and tools you can use to take your leadership to the next level.

State Fire Marshal Track: Manage Demand for Service by Managing Fire Risk
In 2022, fire departments in Minnesota responded to 379,161 incidents resulting in $419,759,895 in loss and 70 fatalities. Join State Fire Marshal Division Staff as we take a deeper dive into those numbers. Participants will learn about the resources available to them from the initial response through investigations and incident reporting. Participants will also learn how accurate data impacts their local community. Lastly, we will explore how you can use this data and the Minnesota Fire Risk Assessment Tool to effectively manage the fire risk and demand for service in your community.


Train-the-Trainer - The Value of Engagement
Scott Nelson

Engagement is a very important and effective element of your training program. The content experts who are currently training within your department can take their trainings to the next level by adding the presentation skills necessary to increase retention. Learning how to train with a high level of leadership command presence is the key to delivering a strong interactive training. The most engaging trainers understand the importance of having a structure that allows for intentionally placed participation and discussion that leave the firefighters feeling empowered and confident. Engaged learners participate actively in training and do it willingly with significantly increased retention.

Wildland Urban Interface for the Structural Company Officer
Brian Pisarek & Hunter Bell

As a responder in a WUI incident, the company officer may be placed in one of many roles, such as incident commander (IC), operations section chief (OSC) or taskforce leader or one of many support roles.

This course identifies the operational activities and safety considerations for the structural officer assigned to a wildland urban interface incident (WUI). This course assumes the student has basic knowledge of wildland firefighting and will reinforce and expands that Knowledge to include WUI.

Topics includes history of the WUI incidents, the intricacies of the WUI, the interface environment, fire behavior, command issues, safety and the related strategic and tactical options that compare and contrast with structural firefighting.

Session will be led by Brian Pisarek – 42-year wildland firefighter with the MNDNR. Brian has lead incident management teams with in the urban interface environment. He has served in many capacities on a national type 2 team holding position such as incident command type 2, Operations section chief and structural specialist. One of the local incidents includes Incident Commander of the Green Wood fire in northern Minnesota fall of 2022.

Also leading in the delivery of the course is Hunter Bell of Ely MN. Hunter Bell is a Structure Protection Specialist (STPS) with Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 1, a Type 1 Complex Incident Management Team based in Region 1. Furthermore, he is an alternate STPS with the Eastern Area Incident Management Team, Type 2, and with the MNICS Type 3 Teams. He has a background in structure and wildland fire, emergency medicine as well as in building construction. He has worked at the local government level as a volunteer/volunteer Fire Chief, AEMT, emergency fire fighter (EFF) with Montana DNRC, a crew member with Lewis & Clark Interagency Hot Shots out of Great Falls, MT, as a single resource with the BLM (AD) out of Billings, MT, and currently a single resource with the USFS (AD) out of R9/Ely, MN. He is also the author and publisher of a guide for Operations in the Wildland Urban Interface.